Fridge seals

Did you know that refrigerator seals have long strips of magnet inside?  When replacing your fridge seals, slice open the old seals and pull out the magnetic strips.  If a handyman does this job for you ask him to leave the seals.  Yes the magnets are long and narrow, but you can cut them to length and put on the back of a notepad to attach to the fridge using as shopping list or phone messages or …

Let kids make their own fridge magnets by giving them small pieces of wood or clay shapes to paint then stick the magnet on the back.  This is an activity then that can be done very cheaply.

I cut to a strip of about 20cm long to leave on the fridge.  I put the corners of notes, notices, appointment cards etc so that it’s like a notice board.  Why the fridge?  It’s a good reminder place as everyone goes to the fridge for something.

Sour cream or yoghurt?

I used to love sour cream, actually I still do but my arteries and my waist don’t.  I switched over to using greek style or a natural yoghurt instead and decided I like the bite or tartness of the yoghurt much better.

I have used the yoghurt on nachos and tacos or in burritos.  It’s great for dipping potato wedges in or even hot potato or sweet potato chips, on top of casseroles or curries when serving.  Even plain steamed veg.

Use on a salad instead of dressing.   Use it as a spread instead of mayo on a salad sandwich or with tomato and pepper on crackers.

It’s great over bbq or roasted lamb with a drizzle of fresh lemon juice and a bit of chopped mint.

It depends on how sweet your sweet tooth is, I have the greek yoghurt with fresh fruit.  My mum has it with honey.

I make 1/3 cup with sweet chilli sauce for the boys as a quick dip.

I’ve mixed it with milk for a marinade/tenderiser for chicken (try 1 tablespoon of yoghurt, mix  to 1 cup milk, dip chicken in a mix of flour and bread crumbs together,  then fry or bake).

I’ve put a bit in with the milk for cakes (it has that bit of acid that can activate the rising agent in flour, depends on what you’re making).

If you wish to try it out in cakes etc, try mixing a small amount first and see how it goes, add more the next time if you wish.  I’m of the opinion that if you try it and you don’t like it, so be it, don’t do it again.

Soap pump packs

I’m sure most people do this with soap pump packs anyway.  I buy a couple with the soap in and there in after I refill with a liquid soap or shampoo.  How did I end up using shampoo?  There is a nice cheaper Australian owned and made shampoo that I bought to wash my hair, it turns out it was a good shampoo but made my hair a bit greasy before it’s next wash was due.  I didn’t want to waste it.  Next time my soap pump container ran out near the hand basin I put in that shampoo, it still washed hands, no one commented it was different and it didn’t get wasted.  There didn’t seem to be any Aussie made hand soap where I shop, so I use this all the time now.

Another bonus about the pump packs is that if you fill it with the kids (kids being teenagers as well)  soap gel it lasts a heck of a lot longer than if you give them a bottle or tube.

If you buy bulk shampoo decant it into a soap pump pack for the shower even if it is the more expensive fancy stuff as the pump is a good limiter, and gives you many more hair washes.

Don’t forget you can buy those fancy ceramic containers to decant your bulk hand soap.

My advice though is to use a cheaper shampoo that is hyper allergenic and a brand you know.  I’ve been given and used some nice soaps, lotions, shampoos etc. over the years and broken out into some not so nice rashes.

Background paper

While yesterdays post was on word backgrounds I should say don’t forget to google printable or free scrapbooking papers.  File them away for future uses of scrapping or card making or other times you need a patterned paper.  You can also find card images and embellishments you can print and cut out.  I always print these on a thin card as that makes cutting out by hand easier.

You can buy a sticker maker that puts the backing on your cut out image to make your own stickers.  The machines are great for those more fiddly pieces you cut out that need all points stuck down.  Mine is a xron and they come in  a couple of different sizes.

Using the google image search is great for those times you want something different right now, or you can’t get to the shops.  Yes you do go through ink on your printer faster but to some point I think it’s a cheaper option. Yes your paper is the smaller A4 and not a proper 30×30 cm scrapbooking size, unless you have that bigger sized printer. A4 is a wonderful size for card making.

Word printed background paper

Make your own word printed background paper. I put up my document wordpad from windows and went to google to look up mothers day verses and sayings.  I copied and pasted those verses I liked in random fonts and font sizes throughout my wordpad page, with the occasional Happy mothers day thrown in in capitals. I chose a colour to print. I printed a few of these pages off on thin card, not paper and used as my background, matted, added a ribbon and a matching or contrast flower.

This method can be used for fathers day verses, birthdays, the verse list is endless or simply happy birthday.   Personalise it with just their name repeated many times in different fonts and colours.

You can use this method for cards, making small boxes or bags.  Make a card and box or bag that matches.   Use for scrapping as long as your card is acid free.

These are the cards I sent off a couple of years back for overseas soldiers, using this method.

See picture below in front row, OR see Papercraft gallery under Anytime cards for a closer look.

 

48mums.sm

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